The Culture Code

An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do

DNA makes a creature human, but what makes him an American? Is there a "culture code" that programs us to become German, or Japanese, or French? Dr. Clotaire Rapaille believes there is such a code, a silent system of archetypes that we unconsciously acquire as we grow up within our culture. The codes vary around the world and invisibly shape how we behave in our personal lives, as consumers, and as nations. Dr. Rapaille used his ability to break the "culture code" to help Chrysler build the PT Cruiser--the most successful American car launch in recent memory. He used it to help Nestlé introduce coffee to the tea culture of Japan, and to explain why George W. Bush is on code for the U.S. presidency and John Kerry was on code for the French presidency. And now, in The Culture Code, he uses it to reveal what makes Americans American, and what makes us different from the world around us. Dr. Rapaille decodes fundamental archetypes ranging from sex to money to health to America itself

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The book was interesting, but hard to believe with the lack of data to substantiate the statements. Then when I read about Canadians and their "winter energy", I started pouring more salt on his conclusions of what Americans think about issues.

It was initially hard to take Rapaille's codes with a grain of salt. And after Rapaille mentioned helping a company make their foods more addictive, I found his siting depression as the primary (or at least only mentionable) cause of obesity to be slightly deceptive. There was no concrete data presented, only generalizations and the conclusion the he apparently drew, along with soundbites from people he'd queried. He did point out that these conclusions, "codes," represented the group not the individual. And his ideas were interesting, and apparently effective.